Rising Star Chef Matt Danzer of Uncle Boons - Biography

In one sense, Matt Danzer hasn’t traveled far from home. Born and raised on the North Fork of Long Island, Danzer now co-owns a restaurant in Manhattan with his wife, fellow chef Ann Redding. It may seem like Danzer simply hopped the East River, but his culinary journey has taken him significantly farther afield.

A graduate of The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, New York, one of Danzer’s first jobs out of culinary school called him farther away, and for good reason—when Thomas Keller calls, chefs tend to answer, which found Danzer working at The French Laundry in Yountville, California. When Keller opened his New York flagship Per Se, Danzer followed back to New York, arriving just in time for the restaurant’s opening.

He also arrived just in time to meet Redding, who would not only become his wife but future partner. Looking to work on a project together, the duo eventually moved back to Danzer’s native Long Island, running a store and café on Shelter Island for five years. And while the intense seasonal schedule proved a bit demanding—nothing Keller-pedigreed chefs aren’t prepared for—it also left time for the duo to travel to Redding’s native Thailand, where Danzer fell in love with Thai cuisine and the liberally creative, shamelessly crave-inducing concept for Uncle Boons was born.